Julian E. Zelizer is the inaugural scholar in residence in the Brennan Center’s Fellows Program, where he is working on a new book for Harper Collins, Rendezvous with Democracy: America, 1945–1974. A leading historian of American politics, Zelizer’s scholarship examines the evolution of democracy, political institutions, and public leadership in the United States. His forthcoming book explores how Americans sought to redefine democracy in the decades following World War II, as the nation grappled with civil rights, political reform, and the legacy of defeating fascism abroad.
Zelizer is on sabbatical from Princeton University, where he serves as the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs. In February 2027, W. W. Norton will publish his new book, Rumble on the Promenade: The Clash of Justice and Power at the 1964 Democratic Convention. He is the award-winning writer and editor of 27 books, including The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society, the winner of the D.B. Hardeman Prize for the best book on Congress, and Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party. Zelizer is also a columnist for Foreign Policy and the author of the Substack newsletter The Long View.